SOCHI, Russia—In the hours after gold-medal favorite Shani Davis finished nowhere near the podium, the U.S. speedskating team pored over data through the early morning Thursday, questioning everything from race strategy to skate blades.

After an equally disastrous outcome in the women's 1,000-meter race later on Thursday, a suspect emerged: the high-tech racing suits the team adopted for the Winter Olympics.

After a disastrous outcome for heavily favored U.S. men and women speedskaters, a suspect has emerged: the high-tech Under Armour racing suits the team adopted for the Winter Olympics. Joshua Robinson reports from Sochi on Lunch Break. Photo: AP.

These suits—designed by apparel sponsor
Under Armour
and billed before the Games as a competitive advantage—have a design flaw that may be slowing down skaters, according to three people familiar with the U.S. team.

Vents on back of the suit, designed to allow heat to escape, are also allowing air to enter and create drag that keeps skaters from staying in the low position they need to achieve maximum speed, these people said. One skater said team members felt they were fighting the suit to maintain correct form.

Kevin Haley, the senior vice president of innovation for Under Armour, which has sponsored the U.S. team since 2011, said he was confident the suits were fast, but, in the absence of medal-winning performances, "we'll move heaven and earth to make them better."

Several skaters, including Heather Richardson, ranked No. 1 in the 1,000 meters, sent their suits to an Under Armour seamstress Thursday to have the panel modified with an extra piece of rubber. After the alteration, Ms. Richardson finished seventh—more than a second slower than the winner.

As of Thursday night, no American has finished better than seventh place in any of the six long-track speedskating events held so far. Another six long-track events remain. In the 2010 Vancouver Games, the U.S. won four medals in speedskating.

"I would like to think that it's not the suit," said Mr. Davis, a two-time gold medalist, who finished eighth in the 1,000 meter despite dominating this season's World Cup circuit. "I would never blame the suit. I'd much rather blame myself. I just wasn't able to do it today, but other people were."

Bert van der Tuuk, the designer of the Dutch Olympic team's suits, said Thursday he had tried a similar ventilation panel on the back of a prototype three years ago, but it slowed his skaters by letting in air and creating drag. "The suit was blowing itself up," he said.

There were other possibilities. The U.S. team trained at higher altitudes on an outdoor track in Collalbo, Italy, with ice conditions different from the track in Sochi. Plus, said Brittany Bowe, the world-record holder in the 1,000 meters who finished eighth behind Ms. Richardson, "other countries are just getting really fast."

Ted Morris, the executive director of USA Speedskating, said, "The evidence does not suggest that the suits have contributed to the disappointing results so far…We're working with our athletes, coaches, trainers and Under Armour to figure out what we can do to produce better results for Team USA."

Matt Powell, an industry analyst for SportsOneSource, said the benefit of Under Armour's sponsorship of the U.S. speedskating team at the Games is global exposure and product credibility. The $11.5 billion Baltimore-based sportswear maker went public in 2005 and derives its core business from sales of performance apparel, rather than from sports footwear like Nike Inc. and Adidas AG.

Under Armour developed the skintight aerodynamic suit for the Sochi Games and it was pretested for specific conditions, including the sea-level altitude, that athletes would face there. The company billed the so-called Mach 39 outfit as "the fastest speedskating suit in the world." The suits, made from five synthetic fabrics, went through 300 hours of wind-tunnel testing and incorporated the design expertise of Lockheed Martin's aircraft engineers, the company said. Even the zippers were a special design.

The suits were delivered to the team in January, when preliminary adjustments for fit and comfort were made for each athlete, Mr. Haley said. The company also sent a team of specialists to Sochi to make adjustments as needed. The U.S. team wore the suits in the past month for simulated race conditions, but the Games marked the first time in competition.

The new U.S. suits were a topic of conversation among rival teams at the Adler Arena's morning practice Thursday. Overhearing a conversation about them, a Dutch coach shouted, "Are you talking about the suits? They're slower!"

U.S. national long-track team coach Ryan Shimabukuro declined to discuss the suits or Under Armour. "I'm not going to criticize them, even if I was allowed to," he said. "They're a great partner. And it'd be stupid to criticize a company that has backed us completely."

This isn't the first time the U.S. speedskating team has had issues with an experimental suit going into the Winter Olympics. In 2006, when the team was sponsored by Nike, it reverted to older Nike suits before the Games.

Mr. Davis said his start in Wednesday's losing 1,000-meter race was one of the fastest of his career. Normally after such a strong start, he said, "there's no way, no way in hell, that I would post a 25.4 [second] lap."

On Saturday, Mr. Davis will compete in the 1,500-meter race, an event in which he has twice won silver medals. But he tempered expectations for the longer race. If the suit was the problem in the 1,000 meter, he said, "then it's probably going to be worse because it's more laps to skate under the thing."

Peter Mueller, a one-time Olympic gold medal winner in the 1,000 meters who went on to coach such U.S. greats as Bonnie Blair and Dan Jansen, said that a suit affects a skater two ways. There is the impact on speed. And there is comfort, which can affect a skater's confidence.

Mr. Mueller, who watched the race on TV, said he had never seen Mr. Davis start so quickly. He couldn't explain why he slowed down, but he thought the suit might have played a part.

"If I was Shani, I'd talk to Under Armour and I'd see if I could use my Nike [suit] and put an Under Armour sticker on it."

I wonder of the lack of adequate testing of the new suits is an expression of the same good old-fashioned paranoia we saw with the America's Cup race, where the Yanks and Kiwis did everything short of having minisubs torpedo the scout boats that they were using to snoop on each others' latest design tweaks. Presumably Under Armour's competitors know how to use telephoto lenses.

The whining among the Americans is a national embarrassment. Is this just a manifestation of the culture (it's somebody else's fault; just trying is supposed to get me a gold, like it did on the playground)?

American Shaun White whined about [some facility], and withdrew, to focus on other things. He ended up with zip. He'll be remembered for his whining.

Now, "it's the suit's fault." They had plenty of time to figure out the suit. These whiners aren't as good as they thought they were. Life is tough, when you step outside the bubble.

I hope the whiners watched Evgeny Pleshenko the other night. He's endured multiple surgeries, and hadn't planned to compete this year (his 4th Olympic competition). He didn't whine and moan. He just skated, for the last time as it turned out (he was in pain and had to withdraw before the short program today), helping his team win a gold. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Classy. World class.

I am not reading this in responses: why would the coaches have failed to have our athletes practice for months in these same suits instead of having them delivered and worn just before the games? To me if there is any issue it is the failure of the coaching staff to test out the equipment well in advance of the games. This is like having the Navy Seals practice for an assault with one type of gun for months, then change guns two days before the assault.

There may be something wrong with the suits, but I find it hard to believe. It might be that the fit for some athletes is all wrong and the material has stretch issues. Even so, the teams should have been practicing in this stuff for months in advance.

Maybe, just maybe, Davis lost because there were other Olympic skaters that were better that day. With the myriad of factors that go into a single performance, cherry-picking just one to blame failure is sounding more and more American (read - Obama) every day!

Do other countries use latex in their suits? Since the US has stopped using latex nothing stretches like it used to. It is the lack of latex that has caused women to abandon nylon stockings as just too uncomfortable. I would bet that these suits have no latex and that the vents were added for ease of motion as much as for cooling.

I've never been a speedskater, but as soon as an athlete can believe that his/her equipment is the problem, it is near impossible to change that belief. Conversely,, if you believed your equipment made you faster, there is no way this will be attributed to your time, but if it's threatened to be taken away--that's another story.

Wait a second. UA has time to consult with Lockheed aerospace engineers and wind-tunnell test the suits, BUT there's no time to test them under competitive conditions? What am I missing? Doesn't it seem like a bad idea to go into battle with totally new gear?

Be assured they were tested. More likely is that it is easier to blame a large corporation for ruining Olympic dreams than it is to critique Olympians for not meeting expectations.The ice skaters blame the suits, the half-pipe riders blame the slush, etc.

Just because you have egghead PhD's sitting around dreaming these things up on paper doesn't mean they will work. Most of these folks have never been on a pair of skates.....it's just theory and numbers to them. Being smart is not the same as being wise.

Suits do make a difference but it is much more likely that racers who peaked perfectly are just winning. That is the nature of sport. It is rarely one easily identifiable thing that will point out the loss, rather a series of small mistakes that cascade as the race goes on.

Sponsors like underarmor, speedo, nike, etc. Are big bucks for the teams and IOC. The sponsors want the athletes wearing their latest and greatest garb. A lot of money would vanish if everyone was forced to wear the same simple cotton clothing.

I think it would surprise you how much a suit can impact the drag coefficient at this level of competition. These speed skaters are traveling a high rate of speed and it's the best athletes in the world. Take the same athlete and have him run a lap wearing two different types of suits and he'll have different times. Multiple that across many laps... and you are out of the medal if not wearing the right suit.

Presumably the US coaches time the practice runs and would know well in advance of the actual Olympic events if the whole team was slower as a result of the new suits. The would also know if the best team members were slower. I find this article very hard to believe.

I don't doubt that the suit makes a difference. But if the suit can make a difference, can't other things also make a difference? And if so, are we then to believe that all those other things are equal in this case? It seems implausible.

Also it is perfectly normal for people to look around for something to blame when things don't work out as expected. The only way to find out if the suits are the problem is to conduct a randomized clinical trial under race conditions. This should have been done before the American skaters were asked to don these suits in competition.

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.